Driving Results Through Culture

New data coming out of Wuhan is showing that Covid-19 may be far deadlier than originally thought. Moreover, none of us knows what our economy will look like after the virus has run its course (or, more optimistically, after a vaccine is implemented.)

The big, glaring takeaway? As leaders, we can no longer arrange our thinking and actions around crisis planning. Crisis planning runs on adrenaline and an unspoken assumption that this is a short-term challenge. Coronavirus is not. In fundamental ways, it's our new normal.

Today I present five steps we can all take to help us shift perspective, turn the corner emotionally and intellectually, and build stronger systems that can endure. Here are the first two:

1. Allow yourself to grieve what's been lost. Acting like this will all blow over means that you aren't letting yourself acknowledge what's been lost. This is the critical first step to being able to move forward.
2. Assess what's truly needed. If you're like the rest of us, you're realizing just how many of your activities weren't absolutely essential. Now is the time to reassess what you're doing with your time, energy and energy. What does your organization contribute to the world? If you're not certain of the answer anymore, that means you need to change what you're doing. What else can you offer?

In today's 3.5-minute episode of my Culture Leadership Charge video series, I outline the three additional steps we need to take – and set short-term crisis planning aside.

This is episode eighty-three of my Culture Leadership Charge video & podcast series. In these concise episodes, I presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your neighborhood.

This content was released in video format on my website, http://DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com, on April 14, 2020.

Check out my YouTube channel to view all of my 3-minute Culture Leadership Charge video episodes.

Does your work culture amp up stress – or does it purge stress?

Stress is an emotion that's created by limbo. If team members don't know answers to questions like, "What should I do?" or "What if x, y, or z happens?", they experience greater stress. Greater stress means they can't act. They can't move forward. And they worry about every single bad thing that could happen when they do take action.

Workplace cultures riddled with stressed-out people are environments built on uncertainty — not healthy uncertainty, which can fuel ownership, engagement, creative problem solving, and high performance.

Stressed-out people create unhealthy uncertainty — the kind of fear that arises when people aren't sure that they will continue to be valuable to an organization if decisions they make don't pan out.

Unhealthy uncertainty amplifies stress, erodes confidence, and creates anxiety. Stressed out people are not calm, cool, and creative. Stressed out people are much more likely to stop and observe rather than to proactively solve problems. They're more likely to withhold information, to react angrily to changing requirements, and to take out frustrations on customers.

And that costs you money, customers, and engagement within your work environment.

In today's 3.5-minute episode of my Culture Leadership Charge video series, I share three proven steps that will help leaders create and sustain a stress-purging work culture – and quash a stress-amplifying one.

This is episode eighty-two of my Culture Leadership Charge video & podcast series. In these concise episodes, I presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your neighborhood.

This content was released in video format on my website, http://DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com, on March 16, 2020.

Check out my YouTube channel to view all of my 3-minute Culture Leadership Charge video episodes.

What is your company's servant purpose – its present day "reason for being"?

Most companies do not go to the length required to formalize their servant purpose and then communicate frequently to team members how their work contributes to that higher purpose.

Recent research from Gallup notes that only 4 in 10 US employees agree that they know what their company stands for and what makes it different from their competitors.

Higher purpose has been shown to boost company performance. A 2016 Harvard study found that companies with high purpose and high clarity from management systematically outperform companies with low purpose and low clarity.

A servant purpose statement has three elements. It states what your company does, for whom, and "to what end" – how what your company does improves customers' quality of life.

In today's 3.5-minute episode of my Culture Leadership Charge video series, I look at two different company's purpose statements – one effective, one rather awful – and outline how to craft an effective servant purpose statement that inspires.

This is episode eighty-one of my Culture Leadership Charge video & podcast series. In these concise episodes, I presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your neighborhood.

This content was released in video format on my website, http://DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com, on February 13, 2020.

Check out my YouTube channel to view all of my 3-minute Culture Leadership Charge video episodes.

To what degree does your organization demonstrate service to others?

As part of my consulting work with senior leadership teams, I help them define their company's servant purpose - a concise statement of what their company does, for whom, and "to what end."

The "to what end" piece is critical because it describes how what their company does improves customers' quality of life. It formalizes the company's desire to serve others.

Demonstrating service to others definitely brings benefits.

In her excellent 2018 article, "Why Being of Service Improves Happiness," Dr. Barbara Edwards describes how serving others boosts human satisfaction. The same benefits she describes for individuals occur when organizations make service to others a foundation of their work cultures.

In this three-minute episode of my Culture Leadership Charge video series, I share three tangible benefits that employees enjoy when your company engages in proactive, face-to-face community service.

This is episode seventy-nine of my Culture Leadership Charge video & podcast series. In these concise episodes, I presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your community.

This content was released in video format on my website, http://DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com, on December 16, 2019.

Check out my YouTube channel to view all of my 3-minute Culture Leadership Charge video episodes.

To what degree might rudeness impact team performance - and team member performance - in your workplace? Rudeness and incivility is rampant in our organizations. A 2013 study featured in the Harvard Business Review found that 98% of employees reported experiencing incivility at work by bosses and peers. Individual reactions to incivility include:

• 48% intentionally decreased their work effort.
• 38% intentionally decreased the quality of their work.
• 63% lost work time avoiding the offender.
• 80% lost work time worrying about the incident.

What hasn't been examined is how rudeness and incivility impact team performance.

A 2015 did exactly that. It examined how rudeness impacts medical team performance.

This research used simulation-based experiments with neonatal intensive care teams. No humans were placed at risk during this study. The hypothesis was that "interrelating processes essential for collaboration are adversely affected when medical professionals are victims of others' rudeness." In this three-minute episode of my Culture Leadership Charge video series, I share the startling findings from this study and how to reduce the incidence of rudeness and incivility in your workplace.

This is episode seventy-eight of my Culture Leadership Charge video & podcast series. In these concise episodes, I presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your community.

This content was released in video format on my website, http://DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com, on November 18, 2019.

Check out my YouTube channel to view all of my 3-minute Culture Leadership Charge video episodes.

Here's a hypothetical situation. One of your good friend's oldest child is looking for a new job. This friend tells you that his daughter is considering applying to a number of organizations, including your company.

The friend asks you a vital question: "Is your company a great place to work?"

For many of us, we'd have a tough time giving our company – and our company's culture – a "great place to work" rating. It might be an "OK" place to work – but not great.

The problem is that far too many companies are lousy places to work.

SHRM's 2019 culture report found that, over the past five years, the cost of turnover due to workplace culture exceeded US$223 Billion around the globe.

In this episode of my Culture Leadership Charge video series, I share insights from this new study (the results are not pretty) and outline how you can make your team or department or company a great place to work.

This is episode seventy-seven of my Culture Leadership Charge video & podcast series. In these concise episodes, I presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your community.

This content was released in video format on my website, http://DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com, on November 11, 2019.

Check out my YouTube channel to view all of my 3-minute Culture Leadership Charge video episodes.

Does your workplace treat men differently than women?

Your initial reaction might be, "My company pays women less than men." Pay inequity is an issue that is gaining attention, though too few organizations are taking aggressive steps to solve that gap.

Our challenge is that women experience greater workplace gaps than just salary.

TINYpulse's new Gender Equity Report examines data from over 200,000 employees in 488 global organizations to understand the female experience in today's workplace.

The results are powerful – and disappointing.

53% of men rate their work environment as very good. Only 41% of women believe the same. That's a huge gap – and it may explain the loyalty divide: 52% of men say they'll be working at their current organization in one year while only 40% of women commit to that.

When examining the degree to which women are valued for their work contributions, women report receiving 17% less recognition than men.

It's not surprising that women feel more insecure in their current roles than men do, 40% to 33%. And it's not surprising that women are more inclined to be job hunting today.

In this episode of my Culture Leadership Charge video series, I describe the single most important thing to fix in your company's efforts to demonstrate full equal treatment.

This is episode seventy-six of my Culture Leadership Charge video & podcast series. In these concise episodes, I presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your community.

This content was released in video format on my website, http://DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com, on October 21, 2019.

Check out my YouTube channel to view all of my 3-minute Culture Leadership Charge video episodes.

Are you a great partner, at work and in life, to those around you?

Relationships with our work peers, friends, family, neighbors, or even strangers are not always healthy. Yet numerous research studies provide indisputable evidence that positive relationships lead to greater well-being and longer life.

Most of us humans realize that we could serve others more effectively. Often, our selfish desires quash our ability to see opportunities to serve – and to act on those opportunities.

What we need is a simple model to guide how we interact with others daily. Here is my best thinking on a GREAT partnering model.

In 2013 I published a book on how to be a GREAT boss. Those recommendations are still important and relevant. Whether you're a formal leader or not, though, you're a colleague, neighbor, and partner with many people each day. What each of us need to do is BE a GREAT partner as well as surround ourselves with GREAT partners!

GREAT partners demonstrate and inspire these five characteristics. "Demonstrate" means we model these qualities daily. "Inspire" means we generate others' demonstration of these qualities, daily, as well.

Generosity Respect Encouragement Aspiration Trustworthiness

In this episode of my Culture Leadership Charge video series, I share the positive impact of these qualities in action.

This is episode seventy-five of my Culture Leadership Charge video & podcast series. In these concise episodes, I presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your community.

This content was released in video format on my website, http://DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com, on October 7, 2019.

Check out my YouTube channel to view all of my 3-minute Culture Leadership Charge video episodes.

I am often asked about my three-phase culture refinement process. Today I'll share how the third phase – "refine" – ensures the effective evolution of your purposeful, positive, productive work culture.

My approach is founded on this hard fact – senior leaders must drive and champion their organization's culture. They are ultimately responsible for clarity of and demonstration of the organization's servant purpose, values and behaviors, strategies, and goals. They can't delegate this responsibility to any one or to any other function – they must model and coach their desired culture daily.

The refine stage happens about every two years. This stage offers business leaders and senior leaders the opportunity to update portions of their organizational constitution. Which portions stay the same? Your servant purpose and values don't typically require updates.

Though values rarely change, you may find that you need to tweak the language in your values definitions. Your organization evolves once you set high standards for results and for values. As your work culture evolves, you may find you need to revise those definitions.

In this episode of my Culture Leadership Charge video series, I describe what elements do require regular updating and revision.

This three-phase culture refinement process works. It has helped clients create purposeful, positive, productive work cultures for the last 25 years.

This is episode seventy-four of my Culture Leadership Charge video & podcast series. In these concise episodes, I presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your community.

This content was released in video format on my website, http://DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com, on September 2, 2019.

Check out my YouTube channel to view all of my 3-minute Culture Leadership Charge video episodes.

I am often asked about my three-phase culture refinement process. Today I'll share how the second phase – "align" – creates commitment for your purposeful, positive, productive work culture.

My approach is founded on this hard fact – senior leaders must drive and champion their organization's culture. They are ultimately responsible for clarity of the organization's servant purpose, values and behaviors, strategies, and goals. They can't delegate this responsibility to any one or to any other function – they must model and coach their desired culture daily.

In the align stage, I help senior leaders ensure that every player's plans, decisions, and actions align with their defined organizational constitution. Every player means everyone in the organization – senior leaders, next level leaders, and on, including frontline team members.

This is by far the most demanding stage for senior leaders. In the first stage – define – senior leaders formalize their desired culture by crafting and publishing their organizational constitution.

However, announcing new rules doesn't ensure alignment with those rules. Senior leaders must generate credibility for their desired culture by being proactive champions and role models.

The align stage is also the longest phase. It takes 12-18 months of focused intention and attention from senior leaders.

There are three key elements of senior leaders' responsibilities in the align stage. They are modeling, mentoring, and measuring.

In this episode of my Culture Leadership Charge series, I outline exactly how leaders create alignment by implementing these three "M's."

This is episode seventy-three of my Culture Leadership Charge video & podcast series. In these concise episodes, I presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your community.

This content was released in video format on my website, http://DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com, on September 2, 2019.

Check out my YouTube channel to view all of my 3-minute Culture Leadership Charge video episodes.